Saturday, January 31, 2015

This is a short post to celebrate that one of my recent articles got published on Event Magazine!

The magazine has a digital and a print portfolio, including several different subscriptions. One of their top printed magazines is called “The Agenda”, which highlights the winners of its influence index and analyses the trends for the years ahead. I got my article published on page 61 of “The Agenda 2015” volume.

I would like to share a bit of background on the article subject, please bear with me!

Recently, I have been researching, discussing and promoting the concept of “Connected Spaces”, focusing on a different angle of the “Internet of Things”. As opposed to concentrate on the fact and goal of getting devices connected to the Internet, I like to think that device connectivity is just the medium of achieving something way more interesting: getting spaces and environments connected. The premise is simple, if spaces are truly connected, they can work harder for us, react and adapt appropriately according to the level of information that we willingly share with it, and give us a much more relevant, personal and useful experience, what we call a “contextual experience”.

See, I would like brands and companies to make environments work harder and better, and stop pushing us to look at the tiny mobile screen all the time. If the environment can reach through the connectivity and data flow of our devices, then we avoid having to use our device’s as the sole window of information, the only way to interact with brands. It is an inverse data flow point of view.

To put it simply, I’d like the space to deliver what I need when I need it, without having to look at my mobile to get it.

I’ll be exploring, writing and hopefully publishing a lot more on the subject this year. The article that Event Magazine kindly published for me, is the start of the topic, ahead of the big trend of connected devices and “The Internet of Things”. This is why the article itself is titled exactly like that.

Although the magazine is printed, I’m sharing a digital version of the article if you would like to read it. Of course, if you are really interested on the subject, I’d recommend that you get a subscription to Event Magazine.

If you want to read the digital version of the article, you can do so here.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Annoying, isn’t it? I ran into this problem with an old Windows 7 tablet while performing a full restore of Windows 8. Although the Tablet was made for Windows 7, I was able to install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview when it came out.

The restore seemed to run just fine, but after restart the tablet run into this issue and I was unable to get it to start Windows again.

I knew I had to boot from a bootable USB image, but the tablet wound not use the USB to boot. Normally, you need would restart and get into the BIOS to change the boot device sequence. However, getting into and navigating the BIOS on a tablet without a keyboard is daunting at best.

I tried several button sequences to no avail. For the sake of reference, here’s how you would navigate the BIOS on a touch device without keyboard:

Windows Key held during boot: BIOS

Volume Up (up key): Navigate current page options

Volume Down (down key): Navigate current page options

Rotation Lock (enter / select key): Select option

Windows Key [In BIOS] (escape / return / go to exit page)

Hold Rotation Lock + Volume Up / Volume Down: Navigate tabs/pages

Frustrating enough, I was able to navigate the BIOS, see the boot sequence, but from the Tablet I wasn’t able to change the boot sequence order.

Additionally, there are also a couple of suggestions on how to booth into the recovery partition or connected UBS devices:

Hold Volume Up to start the System Recovery Partition

Hold Volume Up + Volume Down to change the booting device sequence

However, in my case, the System Recovery didn’t work (missing Windows files) and neither the combination to change the boot sequence.

Finally, I found out that at the bottom of the BIOS exit page, the available boot devices are listed. The connected USB key devices should be there (make sure the USB device is connected before powering on the tablet).

On that page, you can actually step on the USB device and select it with the Rotation Lock button. Doing this, I was able to force the tablet to boot into the USB device and get the Windows installation going.

I hope this saves you some time and helps you bringing your tablet to life again.

BUILD had one big room dedicated to device showcase and partner’s displays, and let me tell you, I have never seen so many different types of 3D printers and so many people into it under one room. Every one was super friendly and willing to share their print-outs, models, advise and services.

I thought that the best way to share this with you, was with as many pictures as possible, so check them out!